German retail, e-commerce, financing, logistics and mail order sectors specialist Otto has appointed tech ambassador and consultant Dr. Frederike Fritzsche as chief transformation officer.

Starting her new position this month, Fritzsche will be based in Hamburg where she will be tasked with overseeing the firm’s developments surrounding AI in the corporate context, with a focus on rolling out genAI to employees.

Fritzsche, who’s been at the firm for almost ten years, explained that a central part of her work is focused on creating networking opportunities so that employees can exchange ideas on relevant AI topics and learn from each other.

Fritzsche initially joined Otto in 2015 as a senior business e-commerce developer; she was later promoted to tech ambassador in 2021.

She explained: “My goal is to demonstrate the potential of the technology in daily business. The technologies alone do not bring about change. What is needed is an understanding of the applications, their necessity and their potential.”

The new tech transformation officer added her team has already developed a training navigator able to find the training courses that best suit their level of knowledge and goals, aiming to provide an overview of where there are gaps in the training offering.

“For example, we were able to identify that there was still room for improvement in the need for training for developers,” continued Fritzsche. “It is always advisable to get managers on board early.

“We are currently running the second edition of our management training.”

Otto also launched a GenAI ambassador programme to ensure it can bring multipliers into action across all its specialist areas.

“But this is primarily about bidirectional exchange: on the one hand, there is the transfer of knowledge from IT to the specialist department, and on the other hand, there are the ideas that come from the experts in the departments,” she added.

Commenting on Otto’s recent announcement on increasing the proportion of women in IT, she said that diversity has once again become “more relevant”, particularly in the context of AI.

“Only if people of different origins, socio-demographic backgrounds, genders and gender identities programme these applications can we ensure that they neither favour nor discriminate,” added Fitzsche.

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